Toxic fumes kill one man, injure another, at Beatrice factory

Two men on a cleaning crew were overcome by fumes Monday at a Beatrice factory and one of them has died.

Beatrice Fire and Rescue Chief Brian Daake says they were called to Neapco Manufacturing about 10:30 AM and found CPR being performed on one man, while the other was conscious.

Chief Daake says they tried to figure out what caused the incident.

“We had the team make entry, they surveyed the site,” Daake says. “With the instruments that we have, we weren’t able to determine anything besides normal readings but we don’t have the capability to test for every possible chemical.”

Daake says hazmat officials determined there was some type of chemical reaction or release from a janitor’s closet, located in a company breakroom.

“It appears it’s possibly household cleaners that they normally use,” he says. “There’s speculation something accidentally got mixed with something else. We’re not sure at this point, with what we were able to find.”

The men who were overcome have not been named. An autopsy is planned today on the man who died. The survivor was treated and released from Beatrice Community Hospital.